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Sunday, January 9, 2011

You see, I had a plan for Friday. I have big plans for this month, so I have several things I really need to get done. I actually needed to do several of them Thursday, but couldn't because I spent the day chasing down bad fonts and duplicated fonts on my hard drive. Doesn't that sound like a great way to spend a day? Lemme tell you, it was riveting good fun. Apparently there's this known issue that, when installing Microsoft Office on a Mac, the Mac and Microsoft don't discuss relationship things like big grown-up software megamonsters, and then fonts get installed twice (or more). It's not a big problem in the beginning, but then things start to fester and over time, problems occur. Sounds like a rotten marriage from the get go. And THEN, to make it even more fun, putting the newest OS from Mac in the mix, Snow Leopard, actually stirs the pot and makes a bigger mess. Then good fonts go bad and chaos reigns. What that means is that the innocent software that's been behaving so well for you all this time suddenly gets a wild hare and flips out and refuses to play (prolly all scared of that big ol' snow leopard skulking around). Just your typical dysfunctional family, right? So what's the oh-so-elegant solution to all of this? Well, you get to manually look at every font and remove the duplicates one by one. Sounds like no big deal until you know that I have over 1000 fonts and more than a third of them had been duplicated. Oh, and if you move the wrong one, MS Word won't work.

BUT THAT'S NOT EVEN THE THING THAT MADE ME MAD!

I actually got all that dealt with. I am now the proud owner of only ONE copy of all my fonts. Yay me. Problem resolved. Now, I think, I'll just work a little on Saturday to get the three things done that I didn't get done on Friday. I can do that. Soooo, happy me with my yummy cup of coffee settles down at the desk to whip through everything. Feeling good about the day. Boot up. Check email. Facebook. Twitter. Someone on twitter has mentioned that Apple is having a big sale at their new app store and Aperture is really cheap. Cool! I really want to upgrade, so I go check it out. Sure enough, it's more than 50% off. I want to learn more, so I click a button to log in, and WHOOPS!, I realize I've just purchased it.

Fine. I was going to do that anyway. Then I notice the thing that sends me through the roof. It's INSTALLING. Right. Now. But WHYYYYYY?

I don't want it installed yet. And here are just a few of the 100 reasons why.

1. Because I didn't tell it to. I mean seriously. I should be able to stop right here. This should be enough reason. After all, this is my computer and, in theory, I should be in charge of what's on it, what's going on it, and when it goes on it.

2. Aperture is a large application and the installation takes over 15 minutes.

3. Installing the new version overwrites the old version, making the old version inaccessible.

4. The new version requires that my library of photos be updated in order to be viewed. This means I suddenly do not have access to my photo library.

5. Updating the old version's library will take in the neighborhood of 15 hours. Now I can't work until I resolve this problem.

6. My backup drive has been making some sketchy noises this week, and I don't dare update the files on my primary storage drive and risk there being a glitch.

7. I've got to go to a shoot in a few hours, which I have yet to prepare for.

8. Now I need to go to the computer store and buy a new hard drive to back up my photo library.

9. I have to go to the store today because there's this alleged monster winter storm on it's way and I may not be able to go later. Oh, and while I'm out, I guess I'll go get some milk, bread, water, and batteries. Screw that. I'm getting red wine and chocolate.

Now, before you start explaining all slow and deliberate how app stores work, let me head you off. I get that app stores are all about making things efficient and whatever. I understand the necessity of less button smashing on a smart phone, since everyone seems to feel the overwhelming urge to do all their smart phone crap while driving down the interstate at 75mph eating a Big Mac. But when you're downloading something that causes as much disruption to your workflow as Aperture does, how come there's no 'Install Later' button? Seriously. There was no button that said, Whoa there buddy!, I may have changed my mind. Or, Ooooo, I didn't mean to do that right now. It just forged right ahead like a monkey on a mission. I mean, what's so hard about putting a button there so you can choose to download later? What business doesn't want to take your money now and give you your stuff later? Heck, lawyers do it all the time. They invented that.

Soooooo, that's one lost workday. For a total of two this week due to computer issues. My Mac is not as shiny as it used to be, what with all the dried tears all over the monitor. I'm sure we'll make up eventually and laugh about this later, since we've been pals for so very long. But in the meantime, sheesh am I tired. But all is not lost, dear Internet friend. The thing I was fighting so hard to finish is now complete and is coming up in the next post. Stay tuned for a special treat.

Oh yeah, I solved the problem, btw. I did end up going to the store to buy a replacement back up drive. I made a duplicate of my library, loaded the updated software on my laptop, and reinstalled the old version of the software on my desktop. Now I have 3 copies of my library onsite. I can connect one to the laptop and let it do all the heavy lifting and file updating while I keep working on the desktop. When the files are finished processing, I'll just switch drives. I'll have to save my work and import it to the desktop, but that won't be hard. See, simple problem, simple solution. Ha.